Immunity from arrest.

Existing law criminalizes various aspects of sex work, including soliciting anyone to engage in, or engaging in, lewd or dissolute conduct in a public place, loitering in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution, or maintaining a public nuisance. Existing law, the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act (CUCSA) , also criminalizes various offenses relating to the possession, transportation, and sale of specified controlled substances. This bill would prohibit the arrest of a person for a misdemeanor violation of the CUCSA or specified sex work crimes, if that person is reporting that they are a victim of, or a witness to, specified crimes. The bill would also state that possession of condoms in any amount does not provide a basis for probable cause for arrest for specified sex work crimes. Existing law specifies a procedure by which condoms may be introduced as evidence in a prosecution for various crimes, including soliciting or engaging in lewd or dissolute conduct in a public place, soliciting or engaging in acts of prostitution, loitering in or about a toilet open to the public for the purpose of engaging in or soliciting a lewd, lascivious, or unlawful act, or loitering in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution. This bill, instead, would prohibit introducing the possession of a condom as evidence in the prosecution of a violation of soliciting or engaging in lewd or dissolute conduct in a public place, soliciting or engaging in acts of prostitution, loitering in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution, or for maintaining a public nuisance, if the offense is related to an act of prostitution. This bill would make other conforming changes. The California Constitution includes the Right to Truth-In-Evidence, which requires a 23 vote of the Legislature to pass a bill that would exclude any relevant evidence from any criminal proceeding, as specified. Because this bill would exclude from a criminal action evidence about a person's liability for an act of prostitution that is otherwise admissible, it requires a 23 vote of the Legislature.